Re: 10,000 hours

[Art Simon <simart@gmail.com>]

On Fri, Jul 17, 2009 at 12:54 AM, Toby G<carpet8@mac.com> wrote:
> Yes, this is pretty controversial in some circles.  I can assure you, as 
>a
> composer and musician, that symphonies do not pop into most musicians' 
>heads
> as they did for Mozart.

Well the book contends that for even Mozart it was a matter of
practice: "Michael Howe writes in his book Genius Explained, by the
standards of mature composers Mozart's early works are not
outstanding. The earliest pieces were all probably written down by his
father, and perhaps improved in the process. Many of Wolfgang's
childhood compositions, such as the first seven of his concertos for
piano and orchestra, are largely arrangements of works by other
composers. Of those concertos that contain only music original to
Mozart, the earliest that is now regarded as a masterwork (No9 K271)
was not composed until he was 21: by that time Mozart had already been
composing concertos for 10 years."

-- 
Art Simon
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